Gentleman's Club Challenge in Vegas, Baby!

Gentleman's Club Challenge in Vegas, Baby!

What do you call a tournament with 160 ams, over 160 pros, a players pack valued at over $200 (each includes 2 free tickets to the Recycled Percussion show at the Quad (with 400 seats reserved for am weekend and 500 seats reserved for pro weekend…yes, a major P A R T Y each Saturday night), a DGV metal mini, a free meal from Chipotle Mexican Grill, an Innova DX Aviar or Roc, an Innova calendar (ams only), an Innova bottle opener (ams only), and a set of playing cards from Caesars Palace), 150% payback to the am divisions, around $9,000 cash added to the pro divisions (just like the last two years) which also equates to a 150% payback for the pros (excluding awards, player packs, and game costs), and four dozen Las Vegas Disc Golf Club volunteers making sure everything goes as smooth as possible…well, it can only be the Gentlemen’s Club Challenge, Presented by DiscGolfValues.com, held at Sunset Park in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Although not a National Tour, the GCC sure looks, smells, and feels like an event only a fool would miss. The course layout is a great warm-up for The Memorial (flat, dry, with plenty of out-of-bound lines), and the weather is normally in the 60s or 70s. Oh yeah…it is in Vegas baby!!!

The GCC ams play this weekend, February 16th - 17th. Play includes a 2-day tournament with tee times on a 27-hole course with an average distance exceeding 330 feet…with one being an island hole. The raffle is always a huge success at the award ceremony (over $1,000 in goods already collected for the raffle). Sixteen states will be represented by the ams (one more than last year).

Next weekend, February 22nd – 24th, is when the pros play. A very strong touring field is signed up already, including 14 beautiful Female Pro Open ladies and a Pro Senior Grandmaster field. The course will include 18 holes (one also being an island hole), with an average distance over 480 feet. The silent auction will be as exciting as ever (review the silent auction list via www.lvdgc.com), and we are hoping to add $9,000 cash to the pro payout. Like last year, players from at half the states and Canada will be represented pro weekend.

Recycled Percussions, with major support from the V Theater Group and David Saxe Productions, donated 900 show tickets valued at over $75,000! Innova Champion Discs, with partnered support from the LVDGC and Disc Golf Values, came through with $12,000 in sponsorships. The LVDGC, with partnered support from Innova Champion Discs, helped raise over $7,500. Disc Golf Values, our official title sponsor, also with partnered support from Innova Champion Discs, had a significant sponsorship of $5,300. Chipotle Mexican Grill’s 400 free meals are valued at over $3,500, and 400 decks of cards from Caesars Palace is worth over $800. Legacy Discs came through with a $650 donation, and ABC Discs and Huk Lab each sponsored $500 as well! Over $2,000 in funds sponsored to the GCC will be converted to disc golf merchandise, with major support from Innova Champion Discs, and donated to schools in southern Nevada. Last year, almost $7,500 in disc golf goods was donated to a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school from various LVDGC fund-raising activities.

The Las Vegas Disc Golf Club has been growing the GCC since the inaugural event 13 years ago. “To help put last year’s $23,000 purse in perspective, the GCC was the 9th richest PDGA event in 2012, the richest A-Tier event, beat out two Major events, and even out paid a Nation Tour event”, says Jeff Jacquart, Tournament Director for the pro weekend. “Having the Wintertime Open, with over 100 pro players, the GCC, with over 160 pro players, and The Memorial, with over 200 pro players, back-to-back to kick off the tournament season, year-after-year is such a treat for our disc golf community!”